Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Cornell
Tigers Come Back for Big 10-6 Win over Cornell in Women's Lacrosse
April 01, 2006 | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2006
Box Score
For a second straight week, things weren't going Princeton's way in a key women's lacrosse game at home. But this time, the Tigers had the response they needed to turn an early deficit into a big win.
The No. 8 Tigers scored six straight goals in a 15-minute span surrounding halftime, including two within a minute by Katie Lewis-Lamonica at the beginning of the second half that put her team ahead for good, on the way to a 10-6 victory over No. 12 Cornell on an interesting day at Class of 1952 Stadium.
The win was the 19th straight for the Tigers against the Big Red, who last defeated Princeton in 1988.
A brief but violent rain shower doused the crowd suddenly at the beginning of the second half, but that did nothing to stop Lewis-Lamonica. The Princeton sophomore's first unassisted goal 2:07 into the half gave the Tigers a 5-4 lead, and a similar goal 59 seconds later made it 6-4.
"We need Lewey to have the ball in her stick and make plays for us to be successful," said Princeton head coach Chris Sailer. "I told her that at halftime and she responded well."
Princeton (4-4, 2-0 Ivy) still led just 7-5 with under five minutes left, but Holly McGarvie's free-position shot made it 8-5 with 4:31 on the clock. The Tigers then salted it away when Caitlin Reimers found Sarah Steele in front after a Cornell (6-2, 2-1 Ivy) turnover with three minutes left. "We fell behind and it was kind of gut check time," said Lewis-Lamonica, who also had second-half assists on goals by Alex Gangler and Kathleen Miller. "We knew we could get some things going if we got the ball in our sticks."
Princeton didn't have much possession of the ball in the game's first 20 minutes, losing four of the game's first five draws. The Big Red took advantage, grabbing a 2-0 lead six minutes in on a Noelle Dowd goal and jumping ahead 4-1 with 12:36 left in the first half after a beautiful feed from Katherine Simmons to Margaux Viola.
But Cornell wouldn't score again for more than 32 minutes. Princeton won 11 of the final 13 draws of the game, including seven of nine in the second half.
"We really didn't have the ball at all in the first 15 minutes of the game," said Sailer. "We felt like we could do some things on offense if we had it, and we were able to do those things when we started winning draws."
Simmons had two goals to lead Cornell, which outshot Princeton 33-19 (including 19-10 in the first half) but saw just 13 of those 33 shots end up on goal.
Princeton scored on three of its four free-position shots, including Katie Cox's goal with 5:31 left in the first half that started Princeton's six-goal run. The Tigers tied the game at 4-4 at halftime after Holly McGarvie's unassisted goal with 1:21 left.
Miller scored three times for Princeton, while McGarvie had two goals.
The Tigers are now the only undefeated Ivy League team among those who have played a league game. Princeton last lost to Cornell at home in 1985.